Withings Pulse: Latest Fitness Tracker to Step into the Spotlight

The fitness tracker market keeps on growing, but the fitness trackers keep on getting smaller and smaller.

Enter the Withings Pulse, a 1.69” fitness tracker that uploads data to an app on your smartphone. Small sizes and data analysis apps are far from new in the world of fitness trackers, but the Pulse does bring something new to the table – something heavily implied in the name. The Pulse has a heart rate monitor on its back, which you can use by pressing your finger down on the device. There’s also automatic run detection, if you have the Pulse shoved in your pocket or are wearing it (there’s a small clip included). It’s hard to say exactly how well that feature will work in practice.

Past all that, you can expect the usual features – steps taken, distance traveled, and calories burned will all be tracked. You can also wear the Pulse on a wristband while you sleep, to analyze your sleep patterns and help you figure out how to get more quality shut-eye. You can view 14 days worth of data on the Pulse itself by navigating the (admittedly tiny) OLED touch surface, viewing one statistic at a time. Battery life is estimated to be about 14 days as well, with a 24-hour back-up mode that shuts down the touch display but preserves and records data in the background if the battery is almost dead.

Meanwhile, all data will be uploaded via Bluetooth to the Withings Health Mate App, which is available on iOS and Android devices. If you use the MyFitnessPal app to record your calorie intake, that information can now be uploaded to the Health Mate App, too. The Withings Pulse fitness tracker will go on sale today, at $99.